Paladin vs Witch
by someone.else.before
Summary: El loves Mike. Mike loves El. Kali has… concerns. On a visit to Hawkins, El's big sister starts feeling protective and comes up with a few simple tests to make sure Mike is as good a guy as everyone says he is. The tests aren't exactly ethical, but since when has that ever stopped Kali before?
1. The Found Sister

The first time Kali came to visit El in Hawkins, it didn't exactly go smoothly. El was thrilled to see her "big sister" but the rest of her friends were more wary about the girl with wild hair and ice-cold eyes. To be fair, Kali didn't exactly work hard to ingratiate herself with anyone. Her initial intentions were essentially to kidnap (or "rescue," as she put it) her sister from Hawkins, which meant that Hopper spent ten full minutes fighting off an imaginary grizzly bear in the kitchen before El convinced Kali that she was _fine_ , and this was her _home now,_ and _please stop it with the grizzly bear._ So that didn't exactly win Hopper over to her side - and he didn't even know about all the burglaries and revenge killings and shit. Then, when El's friends came to visit, curious to meet the mysterious psychic punk older sister they'd only vaguely heard about, Kali immediately made herself invisible to everyone but El, and then went outside for a smoke. Later, Joyce had the whole crew over for dinner and bit back a smile when Kali, after turning up her nose at the macaroni casserole and roast beef stew, ended up going to town on a basket of freshly made Pillsbury crescent rolls. She proclaimed Kali "a tough nut to crack," which was probably the nicest thing anyone in El's circle had to say about the teenager.

Kali didn't stay long - she had her own crew to get back to, and being surrounded by corn fields and sports fans made her skin itch - but she promised El she'd come back to visit soon, and she kept her word. Every few months, she'd show up in a different beat-up car that Steve Harrington, for one, was pretty sure she had stolen, and tell El stories about life in the big, bad city, and make sure El was practicing with her powers, and annoy Hopper half to death. Kali took El to get her ears pierced even after Hopper expressly forbade it. For El's fourteenth birthday, Kali gave her a knife and a leather jacket. Kali knew that the policeman thought she was a bad influence and that most of El's other friends were terrified of her, but she was used to those kind of reactions. As much as she hated Hawkins - and she really, really, hated Hawkins - she felt strangely tied to it now. For the first time in her adult life, she had a sister - someone she could confide in, someone she wanted to take care of. It was a big change but it made her happy in a way she couldn't really explain.

By Kali's fourth visit, it was mid-July and she was _almost_ glad to escape from the muggy heat of the city. The policeman scowled when she appeared at the front door of his cabin, but she ignored him and brushed past to greet Jane, who dropped her book on the floor and threw herself into Kali's arms.

Jane's bed was big enough for the two girls to share, and they stayed up half the night whispering, Kali absentmindedly playing with the younger girl's hair and feeling so much like a real, normal person that it made her heart ache. Jane told her about going to high school in the fall, about learning how to skateboard and ride a bike, about trying to read the Lord of the Rings books someone had given her for her birthday, about sneaking out on the fourth of July to watch the fireworks with her friends. Kali talked about her crew's trip to New York City, leaving out the details about the men they had killed (all of whom were active members of Brenner's conspiracy - after Jane's intervention, they'd stopped targeting retirees, at least) and instead focusing on the weird, awesome food they'd got to try and the cool bands they'd seen and the way the city looked when it lit up at night. After a long lull in the conversation, Kali was sure Jane had fallen asleep, but the girl surprised her, turning to face her older sister and looking at her seriously.

"Kali?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever been in love?"

Kali grimaced. That was not a mistake she ever intended to make. "No."

She looked up and softened slightly when she saw El's disappointed face. "Why?"

"Because..." El looked around, checking that Hopper wasn't listening. She leaned in towards Kali and whispered in her ear. " _I'm in love with Mike._ "

Kali couldn't help but smile at her sister's earnest expression, even as her heart twisted slightly in worry. _She's growing up so fast._

"Aren't you a little young for all that?" This was not the right thing to say. El looked indignant.

"No. I love him. Joyce says I'm 'wise be on my years'."

Kali smirked. "You mean, 'beyond.' And of course you are, Jane. I apologize." She thought for a moment. "Mike... he's the tall one, yes? With the black hair?"

El nodded, blushing.

"And he's the boy who let you hide in his basement?"

"Yes," El began to babble excitedly, happy to tell her sister all about the miracle that was Mike Wheeler. "He thinks I'm pretty and he kissed me two years ago because he said didn't want to be like my brother. I didn't know _anything_ about kissing then but now I know. He called me every day, on the radio, when I was hiding with Hopper. He danced with me at the Snow Ball. He said I looked beautiful! And then we kissed, again. And on Valentine's Day he gave me this!" El reached over to her bedside table and picked up a small white teddy bear with a red heart embroidered on its chest. "He made me promise not to tell his friends, though. They would tease him too much."

"Cute," said Kali reluctantly, looking down at the little bear. It amused her sometimes, how different she and Jane were, even though they called each other sisters. If a guy ever tried to give Kali a gift in honor of the corporate retrograde bullshit holiday known as Valentine's Day, she would probably chuck it at his head. "So is he your boyfriend, or what?"

El nodded, turning pink. "Since 83 days ago. But... he doesn't know. That I _love_ him."

"You planning to tell him?"

The girl shook her head. "No. He's got to go first."

"Says who?" Kali blurted out, eyes narrowed.

El shrugged. "I don't know... movies. And the magazines Nancy gave me." Kali rolled her eyes and wished, not for the first time, that Jane wasn't _quite_ so impressionable. "I

told you, those magazines are crap. They just want to make you feel bad and sell you shit. And the movies aren't much better."

"But I _like_ the movies and the magazines. They're so pretty." Kali sighed. This wasn't an argument she was likely to win.

"Yeah, okay. Just don't... take it all so seriously, alright?"

"Okay, Kali."

A few hours later, unable to sleep, Kali disentangled herself from Jane's side and wandered out onto the front porch, wondering why she felt so damn _worried_ all of a sudden. She knew Jane was tough - in fact, it drove her crazy the way the people here all babied the girl. She and the policeman had gotten into a huge fight about it, just a few months ago.

" _She's old enough to make her own decisions!" Kali had shouted. "She's been through more shit than anybody. You can't protect her from the world when the world already got to her!"_

" _She's a child, Kali. She'd eat Eggos for every meal if she had her way. She needs safety and structure and a chance to get some education, okay? I'm her father now..."_

" _No you aren't! You know who her father is and what he did to her. The last thing she needs is another one!"_

 _Hopper had grit his teeth and ripped Jane's framed birth certificate off the wall, shoving it in Kali's face. "I'm. Her. Father. Now. And that means I make the rules, not you. So get with the program or get out of my cabin."_

 _Kali had snarled right at him, her eyes coal-black and furious. "I guarantee you're getting some fucked-up nightmares tonight, policeman. Hope you keep the lights on."_

(It had taken a lot of glaring and cajoling on Jane's part to keep Kali from living up to her threat.) So yes, Kali knew Jane could handle herself. Kali had no intention of acting like an anxious mother hen. And yet... _love?_

Love was dangerous. Stronger than her powers and Jane's powers combined. It made you so, _so_ stupid. It could fuck up your whole life. Kali had seen it, seen people caught in depressive holes or getting the crap beat out of them regularly or just making completely irrational decisions that nobody could talk them out of, just because they were in _love._

Kali didn't want to see her little sister put through the ringer like that.

But what could she do? Even at fourteen, Jane was stubborn. Like most teenagers, her emotions were bigger than she was sometimes. Worse, she'd spent the last year and a half absorbing every soap opera and romantic movie the policeman would let her watch. She didn't know about the bad side of love, the dark side.

Then and there, Kali made a decision. She'd go into town one of these days and find this Mike kid, figure out just what he was all about. Jane talked about him like he was the most wonderful person she'd ever met, but Kali was a more objective judge of character. She'd find out if he was really worthy of somebody like Jane or if he was just another selfish teenage boy trying to get lucky. And if she had to ever-so-slightly emotionally scar him in order to get this information, well - she'd done worse things, hadn't she?


	2. The Three Tests

Mike kind of hated going to the arcade alone, but he didn't exactly have a lot of options. Dustin was sick with a summer flu, Will was at art camp in Indianapolis (paid for by the Victims of Hawkins Laboratory Malfeasance / Barbara Holland Memorial Fund), and Lucas and Max were on a _date_ , probably sucking face in the junkyard or something. El was unfortunately still not allowed out of the cabin except for very special circumstances, and her scary older sister Kali was visiting, so Mike was planning to steer clear. His mom was having a dinner party which meant Mike had needed to get out of there _fast_ in order to avoid being drafted into the cleaning effort. So here he was, alone, playing Space Invaders _again,_ the only game he was really any good at, at least compared to Dustin, Lucas, and Max.

"Hey, um, are you Michael Wheeler?"

Mike looked up from his game. A girl about his age, with long, shiny blonde hair and striking blue eyes was smiling at him shyly.

"Uh, yeah?" he said. He didn't think he'd ever seen her before.

"Oh, well, I heard that you're, like, _really_ good at Dig Dug. Can you help me?"

He frowned. "I mean, most of my friends are better than me. But, sure."

She smiled again, her long eyelashes fluttering, and grabbed his arm. "Thank you!"

"No…no problem…" he said, feeling a little confused. Girls didn't act like this around him, normally.

They walked over to the game and he slid some quarters into the slot. "So, um, it's pretty simple to start out with…" he began, explaining the game mechanics and showing her how to work the controls. She watched him closely, seeming enraptured, her shoulder pressing into his. She was wearing some kind of floral-y perfume and her hair kept brushing against his neck.

"Like… like this?" she asked, her hand reaching out tentatively and covering his own over the joystick.

Confused, he pulled his hand away. "Uh…"

The girl tried to escape from one of the monsters, but she wasn't good enough at the controls yet. "GAME OVER" blinked on the screen.

"Oops," she said, giggling.

He shrugged. "It's okay. Just takes some practice."

The girl nodded. Then her eyes lit up. "Hey, come with me."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him along behind him, into the back room of the arcade, where they kept games that were broken or waiting to be installed.

"Here," she said, her eyes warm. She positioned herself across from him. "Now you can kiss me."

He almost choked. "Uhh… what?"

She giggled. "I wanted to thank you."

"I… I mean… I really didn't do anything," he tried to explain. He couldn't understand how he had ended up in this bizarre situation.

"Course you did," she said, smiling and batting her eyelashes. She leaned in towards him.

He backed away into a wall. "Um, stop it. Please."

"Don't you think I'm pretty?" she asked in a small voice. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and bit her lip, pushing out her chest slightly. He couldn't help noticing that she was very… _developed_ … compared to most of the girls in his class.

"Well, sure, I guess, but… I have a girlfriend, you know?" He shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling very uncomfortable.

The girl scoffed. "I won't tell her if you won't. It's just a kiss." She moved towards him again, her hands on his shoulders.

 _What the hell?_ Roughly, he pushed her away. "I don't know what your deal is, but I'm not interested! Get over yourself and leave me alone!" Without hesitation, he bolted to the door, grabbing his backpack on his way outside.

 _Well, that was the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me._

Then he laughed.

 _Ok, fine, meeting people with psychic powers and fighting inter-dimensional monsters was probably weirder. But that was definitely in the top ten._

After being run out of the arcade by an excessively flirty mystery girl, Mike was at a loss as to how to spend the rest of his Saturday. He biked slowly down Main Street, looking around at the shops. Suddenly, he saw a large lump right in front of his wheel, and skidded to a stop to avoid hitting it.

He looked down. _A wallet?_

The wallet was plain brown leather, with a few scuff marks. Mike picked it up and opened it, curious. No ID - that was strange. No pictures either. Just a couple of credit cards and - _woah._

Three hundred dollars?!

Yup. Mike counted again, just to be sure. _Three hundred._ Images flashed in his head of all the things he and the party could do with that kind of money. They could rent out the whole arcade and just play for hours. They could get new walkie-talkies - better ones, with more range and special features.

They could save up to buy a _computer!_

He could take El to the amusement park. They could get the special, high priced tickets that let you skip the line, and they could ride all the rides, and he could play one of those stupid ring-toss games and win a giant bear for her, and they could go on the ferris wheel and hold hands at the top, and…

 _Wait._ He looked down at the wallet again. _This isn't my money. It belongs to somebody else. Maybe they need it, for food, or for their kids. It could be all that they have._

He sighed and looked around. There was a bank not too far away. He walked over to it and pushed open the heavy glass door, shivering at the blast of air conditioning that greeted him.

The teller looked up from his desk. "Hello, young man. How can I help you?"

"Uh… I found this wallet, outside. I thought someone might have dropped it." He handed the wallet over and the teller examined it.

"I see. Thank you for bringing it in. We'll keep it safe and try to find the owner."

Mike smiled. "Cool. Well, bye."

He wondered if he should tell the guys. Dustin would be _pissed,_ and so would Lucas, probably. He thought Will would understand. El? He might have to explain it to her, a little. He knew she stole a coat from a hunter once, and Eggo's from the grocery store, but that wasn't the same, because she'd _needed_ those things, and she hadn't really been taught about right and wrong as a kid, anyway.

On his way to the comic book store, Mike happened to glance at the alleyway behind the movie theater and almost fell over in surprise.

 _El?_

What was she doing here? How did she get away from Hopper? Or did he give her permission, somehow?

She smiled at him and the questions kind of faded out of his mind. He rushed over towards her, almost tripping over his own feet, excitement making his heart race. "Hi, El!"

Her expression turned sad for a moment and he felt a sharp pang of worry in his chest. "Mike, I have to tell you something," she said, her voice low and serious.

"What is it?" he asked, studying her face.

"I'm leaving with my sister."

Mike frowned in confusion. "What do you mean? Like she's giving you a ride back to the cabin?"

"No, Mike." She shook her head and stared down at the sidewalk. "I'm leaving Hawkins. I'm going back to Chicago."

He took a step forward, his gaze fixed on her. Surely he had misheard. "I don't understand… El, what are you talking about?"

She looked up at him again and her eyes were suddenly full of tears. "Mike, I _don't belong here_."

Mike felt like his lungs couldn't get enough oxygen to his brain. His chest was ice-cold and his legs were trembling. He tried to reach out for El's hand but she pulled away. "Of… of course you do! El, this is your home! Did something happen? Did someone say something? Or… did you get in a fight with Hopper?"

She shook her head. "I'm tired of hiding. I'm tired of pretending like I'm just like everybody else. Kali… she's going to teach me. Teach me how to be stronger. She says we'll find the others."

"The others?"

El's face broke into a smile, shining through her tears. "My brothers and sisters, Mike. The other numbers. We're going to find them and I won't be alone anymore."

"El, please," he said. He grabbed her hands forcefully and her eyes widened as she looked up at him. "I know it's hard sometimes, I know it is. But you… you _can't_ leave! Everybody here cares about you so much. Even Hopper, I know he's mean sometimes but I heard him telling Joyce that he thinks of you like a daughter. And Will, he told me you were, like, the only person he can really talk to, about what he's been through and stuff. And I… I mean… I can't… I can't _lose_ you again! You don't understand, it almost _killed_ me the first time." Tears began to roll down his cheeks as the idea of her leaving began to sink in. He knew he was being selfish but he didn't care. He couldn't let this happen, not now, not after he had just got her back. He needed her. He had _thought_ she needed him.

"You'll be okay," she said. She touched his face gently and he shuddered. "You'll find somebody nice to replace me. Somebody normal, like you."

"El, that's not what I want. El, I… I love you!" He hadn't intended to shout it so loudly - hadn't intended to tell her at all, at least until they were much older - but he needed her to understand.

Her eyes were wary, confused. "I don't know what that means."

He took in a shaky breath. "It means… you're the person I care about, more than anybody else. I just want to - to protect you, and make you happy, and be with you all the time. And not just for now, like, _forever."_ He wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. "Do you understand?"

El disappeared, leaving nothing in front of him but empty space and a blank wall.


	3. The Truth

Mike's eyes went wide and his stomach dropped again, his whole body frozen in terror. "El! El, what happened! Where are you? El!" His mind flashed back to the middle school science classroom, a deep crack running through the blackboard, grey particles floating in the air. He tried desperately to fight off the panic of that memory. "EL! EL, COME BACK!"

He whirled his head around, searching for her. Suddenly, he saw a figure leaning against the alleyway - a woman dressed in black clothes that would've fit in better at a punk-rock concert than in Hawkins. Her hair was teased up into a wild cascade on the side of her head. She looked at him appraisingly and he glared back. _Kali_.

"What did you do to her?" he demanded. "Where's El?"

Kali gave him a half-smile. "Well, I'm not sure. I suspect she's with her policeman, working on, ah, what do they call it? _Homework._ " She wrinkled her nose at the idea.

"What are you talking about? She was just here!" He gestured to the place where she had stood. "I know about your powers. You're making her invisible, or something, aren't you? Give her back!"

Kali laughed. "Come on. Aren't you supposed to be one of the smart ones?"

"Give. Her. Back."

"Are you Mike Wheeler?" a high-pitched voice from behind him said. He spun around. _The girl from the arcade?_ "Can you help me play Dig Dug?"

"What is she doing here?" He faced Kali again.

"Mike. Think about it. You said you know about my powers."

His head was spinning and he felt like he was going to throw up. "You - she - that wasn't real?"

"Honestly, did that seem like a realistic situation to you?"

He ignored the jab. "And the wallet…"

"Exactly." She held out her hand and a wallet appeared - the same one as before. "Just in your mind. And that bank teller's mind, too, I suppose." She shrugged.

"So that means that El -"

"She was never here."

"She isn't… leaving?" he breathed, sudden hope stealing into his voice.

Kali shook her head.

Mike practically against the wall, shaking, overcome with relief. _It wasn't real. She isn't going anywhere._ It made sense, now that he thought about it. El wouldn't be wandering around Hawkins on her own. And she wouldn't just decide to _leave_. She'd been working so hard, studying to get ready for High School. She'd told him, just the other day, how excited she was…

Mike opened his eyes and glared at Kali, who looked defiantly back at him. "What the fuck is your problem? Who gave you permission to mess with my brain? You just got bored of hanging around Hawkins so you decided to torture me?"

She shook her head. "Not torture. Test."

The words spilled out of him before he could stop them. "Oh yeah? You like experimenting on people without asking them first? Isn't that what you go around shooting guys in the head for?"

Her glare was poison. "Don't you _ever_ compare me to _them,_ understand?"

Mike gulped but stood his ground. "Stay _out_ of my head."

Seconds passed. They stared each other down. Finally Kali laughed, shoving her hands in her pockets and leaning back against the wall. "Fine. I admit, it was a dirty trick. I'm sorry."

Mike didn't respond.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, you passed."

He watched her, skeptically. "Because I'm not a thief? And I wouldn't cheat on my girlfriend?"

She smirked at his stubborn expression. "Because you're loyal. You're honest. Most importantly, you're totally in love with my sister. Apparently." She looked - almost - _kind?_ It was strange to see a smile on a face that usually just scowled at him.

Mike replayed everything he'd said and went pale, remembering his incredibly over-wrought declaration. "You're not going to tell El – Jane – everything I said, are you?"

Kali chuckled. "No. If she found out I did all this, she would throw a house at me." Neither of them could help grinning at the image. "She's crazy about you. That's why I had to make sure that you were good enough for her."

His ears turned pink and he frowned. "I mean, I'm not. Not really. But I would never do anything to hurt her. No matter what."

Kali's mouth twitched into a smile. "You're a fucking goody-two-shoes, is what you are. I can't understand it. When I was her age, the only boys I wanted to talk to were the ones who skipped school and got into fights."

Mike looked offended. "I jumped off a cliff once!"

Kali guffawed. "That doesn't make you a tough guy, Mike Wheeler. It just makes you a lunatic."

In order to make up for her extremely upsetting and not-so-ethical "test," Kali insisted on driving Mike over to Hopper's cabin to see El. She could tell he still had lingering doubts about whether his conversation with the girl had really been imaginary, and knew that only some quality time with the genuine article would resolve his confusion.

The car ride was very, very awkward. Mike tried to tell himself that Kali had just been being protective, and that it was a good idea to try to keep her on his side, especially since the chief seemed to get more suspicious of his 'intentions' every passing day. Still, he didn't appreciate her willingness to use forced mental trauma as a get-to-know-you strategy. On the other hand, he was well aware that it could have been worse. At least she was planning to keep his embarrassing confession of love a secret from El - assuming she kept her word.

They had almost reached the turn off to the cabin when Kali spoke up. "Oh, one more thing. I know you're a teenager, and so is Jane, and so it's easy to get excited when you two are spending so much time together, but…"

Mike rolled his eyes. Was this girl really going to give him the _talk_ right now? _Seriously?_ "I know, I know. Hopper already told me. Keep my hands to myself until El and me are twenty-five."

Kali made a sound like she was choking, then let out a surprisingly loud screech of laughter. "That fucking cop… Twenty-five? _I'm_ not even twenty-five. Jesus, she'll be dead of _boredom_ by then. What kind of controlling patriarchal regressive bullshit…"

Mike stared at her in shock. "What? You're saying… you want me to… _not_ wait?"

"No!" Kali pounded on the steering wheel. "I'm not… look, will you let me talk, or no?"

Mike was silent, waiting to see where she was going with this.

"You don't have to wait for some arbitrary age to have sex," she told him. Looking over at his face, she bit her lip to suppress a smile. "Although, given how hard you're blushing right now, my guess is you're not at that point yet."

"I'm not blushing!" he said, and blushed harder.

"Sure." Kali rolled her eyes. Then she sat for a moment, thinking. When she spoke again, her words was lower, quieter. "Just, look. I'll admit, I worry about Jane. A lot of guys treated me pretty badly, when I was first on my own. It's easy for a girl to feel like she has something to prove. To feel like… what she wants doesn't really matter." She stared straight ahead, frustrated at how much emotion had crept into her voice. Her eyes were beginning to sting.

Mike frowned, looking down at his hands. He wasn't a hundred percent sure what Kali was talking about, but he knew he never, ever wanted El to feel that way. "What… what can I do?"

Kali glanced at him, surprised. "What?"

"El – Jane – what can I do to make sure that she knows? That she doesn't have to prove anything, to me?"

His sudden, absolute sincerity made her heart squeeze with an unfamiliar warmth. Kali smiled and wiped at her eyes. _Shit._ She hoped the kid hadn't noticed her getting weepy. "I don't think there's any big mystery to it. Just talk to her. Listen to her." She almost laughed at his serious expression, like he was committing her words to memory. "Oh, and if any of your little nerd friends try to give you sex advice, ignore them."

"What?" Mike said. He couldn't imagine talking to his friends about something like that.

"No, seriously. The chances that they have any useful suggestions are pretty much zero."

Mike thought for a moment. "What about Steve?"

"Who?"

"Steve. Steve Harrington. He told Dustin he knows every trick in the book." Mike grimaced. "Not sure I really want to talk to him about it, though, since he did date my sister for a year. Ugh."

Kali chuckled. The idea of Steve Harrington as a sex god was pretty hard to buy, considering how flustered he always seemed around her. Still, she filed the information away. He wasn't exactly her usual type, but…

"Kali?"

"What? Sorry." She pursed her lips. "Uh, no. I wouldn't take advice from him, either." Kali cracked a smile. "Don't worry, Wheeler. You guys will figure it out. When you're ready."

They pulled up to Hopper's cabin. "Oh, one more thing," Kali said. "You should probably tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"That you love her." Kali fought back a snicker at the boy's terrified face. "I don't think that one has to wait till you're twenty-five."


	4. The Confession

Mike waited until Kali's car had disappeared around a bend in the road, then ran over to the front door of the cabin. Two knocks, then one, then three. He looked around impatiently, bouncing on the balls of his feet, until he heard the lock slide open.

Mike burst in to see Hopper sitting on the couch watching TV. "What are you doing here, kid? Everything alright?" The chief sat up, looking worried.

"Where's El?" Mike's voice sounded high and tense in his own ears.

"Uh… she's in her room. But…" Whatever Hopper was about to tell him was ignored. Mike rushed around him into El's bedroom.

She _was_ there, sitting crosslegged on her bed and reading, making notes in a little book as she went along. In her blue and white PJs, her hair sticking up around her ears, she might have been the most adorable sight he had ever seen. She looked up at him and smiled and his lungs let out a _whoosh_ of relief.

"El!"

He couldn't stop himself from running over to her bed and wrapping her in a hug. She squeaked in surprise but then giggled, hugging him back, her hands lightly tracing over his shoulder blades.

"Mike! I didn't know you were coming!"

He blushed. "Yeah, uh, I know. I just… missed you."

Her eyes sparkled and she nuzzled her head softly against his shoulder. "I missed you too."

When she looked at him again, she noticed that he was trying to hold back tears. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, but his voice broke. She reached up and pressed her thumb into his cheek, catching a tear on her fingertip. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

 _Friends don't lie._

"I just… had a bad dream," he said, hoping it would be close enough to the truth to count. "I dreamed you were leaving."

"Leaving… Hawkins?" She tilted her head to the side and Mike tried, unsuccessfully, not to find it adorable.

"Yeah. Leaving Hawkins." _Leaving me._ "You said you wanted to go because…"

"I won't leave," El said. She sounded utterly confident and nonchalant, as if she was telling him the color of the sky or the solution to one plus three.

"I know, but…" he began to argue.

"I don't _want_ to leave Hawkins. _You're_ in Hawkins," she said. She picked up her notebook and studied it, her face a light pink despite her best efforts.

He was pretty sure he could feel his heart literally flutter in his chest.

 _I love you_

 _I love you_

 _I love you I love you I love you I love you…_

The words repeated over and over in his head and the effort it took to _not_ say them was starting to make his palms sweat.

El examined her book, not seeming to notice his internal freakout. "Mike, what does 'confess' mean?"

"C…confess? Uh… it means, like… to admit something. To tell someone the truth."

El tilted her head. "Like how?"

"Uh…" There was only one example that came to mind and he blurted it out before he could stop himself. "Like… confessing that you love someone."

" _Or_ confessing to a crime," Hopper said, appearing in the door frame. He looked at Mike pointedly - too pointedly. "Visit time is over, kid. You're not even supposed to be here."

El glared at her adopted father. "Mike stays."

"I've got night shift at the station, and I am not leaving you two together without a chaperone."

"Shap…" El repeated, the word temporarily distracting her from the argument.

Hopper chuckled. "Chaperone. It's like, a kind of babysitter."

"We're not babies…" El muttered.

"That's kind of the problem," Hopper replied. She didn't understand what he was saying but it still made her mad.

"Why can't Kali be our shap-rone? She said she'd be back at nine-three-zero - I mean, nine thirty."

Hopper muttered something about _good for nothing trouble making little purple haired punk_.

"Please? Please… dad?" The word sounded slightly awkward in her mouth - she was still getting used to calling him that - but awkward or not, it had the intended effect. Hopper visibly softened, his mouth turning up into a reluctant smile.

"Alright, alright. Fine. But keep studying, yeah? I'll want a full report tomorrow on how far you've gotten in that book of yours. And don't let your sister give you any new piercings, or anything, okay?"

El nodded solemnly.

Hopper was almost out the door when he stopped and glared at Mike, who shrank back, his eyes wide. "You. Remember our talk."

"Uh… yeah. Absolutely. No problem, sir."

El giggled. She always thought it was funny when Mike called the chief 'sir.'

They sat together on the front porch of the cabin, cross-legged with their knees bumping together, listening to the crickets and breathing in the warm summer air. El brought her book and they passed it back and forth, reading to each other, until they lost interest in the story and moved on to just talking. As it got darker, they scooted closer together, Mike cautiously putting his arm around El's shoulder and sighing when she nuzzled into his side.

Headlights appeared in the woods and Mike stiffened, pulling away from El, but she shook her head, clinging to his shirt. "It's just Kali, Mike."

That didn't exactly put him at ease, and he tried not to glare at the girl when she stepped out of the car, approaching them with a grin that was too smug by half.

"You twenty-five yet, Wheeler?"

He scowled and pulled his arm back, staring at the ground.

"Where's your policeman, Jane? He usually keeps you inside, doesn't he?" Kali's distaste for El's new father figure was hard to miss.

"He doesn't know," El said, smiling at her small rebellion. "He's at _night shift._ I told him you could be our…" she looked at Mike, searching for the word.

"Chaperone," Mike supplied, keeping his eyes off of Kali, his face turning pink.

The teenager burst out laughing. "And he went for that?"

El nodded. "No new piercings."

Kali rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." She picked up the book El had been reading. "Did you practice with your powers today, Jane?"

"Uh-huh! I was making pancakes, and when Hopper wasn't looking, I flipped them with my mind."

"Well, it's better than nothing." _We should really get you another train car to work with._

"What about you, Kali? Did you practice today?" asked El, excited. "We promised we both would."

Kali made eye contact with Mike, her expression guilty. "Uh… no. No, I didn't."

El looked disappointed, but then she perked up. "You can practice now! On me and Mike!"

"I don't know…" Kali tried to argue.

"Come on… you can show Mike the butterfly! Like the one you showed me, the day we met. Please?"

Mike almost laughed, seeing her pull the same maneuver on Kali that she'd pulled on Hopper. Apparently lawless criminals were just as vulnerable to El's puppy-dog eyes as big-city cops were.

"Alright, Jane. If it's okay with him?" She stole another glance at Mike.

He almost made a snarky comment, about how at least she was asking for permission _this_ time, but something in Kali's expression stopped him. She looked sorry, and hopeful, and for a second he understood why El called her _sister._ He saw the resemblance, somehow. "Yeah. Sure. Go ahead."

Kali opened her palm to reveal a small luminescent butterfly, glowing blue and green and purple against the evening sky, its wings fluttering softly. It flew towards them in lazy circles, landing on the tip of El's nose and making her giggle in delight.

Mike forgave Kali completely, right then and there.

Another butterfly emerged from her hand, and another. Soon they were surrounded, a beautiful swarm lighting up the darkness all around them.

The colors sparkled in El's eyes and Mike couldn't see anything but her, couldn't even hear his own thoughts over the rush of wings and the sound of his heartbeat. She caught him staring and smiled. "Pretty?"

He wasn't sure how he found the breath to speak. "Yeah. Really pretty."

Kali watched the two teenagers standing together in the moonlight and felt a strange emotion twist through her chest. It was a good emotion, but bittersweet too, like a tiny crack in her heart was mending itself as she watched her little sister laugh and dance and twirl, lost in her imagination. She saw Mike's expression, his eyes locked on Jane, and sort of hated herself for putting him through all that shit today. He was a good kid, teenage boy or not, and obviously worshipped the ground Jane Hopper Ives walked on. Some people - including most of the people Kali associated with - kept their emotions tightly nailed down, never letting anyone see what they were feeling. Michael Wheeler was obviously not that type of person.

With that in mind, it didn't exactly surprise Kali when she spotted Mike leaning over and whispering something in Jane's ear, his whole body seeming to vibrate with nervous energy, his face turning pink. Kali didn't hear what it was, and she didn't see Jane's reaction, but she did see _Mike's_ reaction to Jane's reaction, and from that she could easily piece together what was being said.

Kali smiled and walked back to the cabin, giving them some privacy. The butterfly illusion wouldn't last for much longer, but it didn't look like either Mike or Jane were going to notice.

 _Good to see somebody around here taking my advice._


End file.
